


Relief

by kalypsobean



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Community: hoodie_time, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 13:10:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4523346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/kalypsobean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean drives away, aware of the empty space in the passenger seat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Relief

**Author's Note:**

> for a wish by cassiopeia7 at the [hoodie_time dean-centric summer meme](http://hoodie-time.livejournal.com/975052.html?thread=12540876)  
>  _Fic: Missing scene from the end of the Pilot. After returning from Jericho, Dean drives off and leaves Sam in front of his apartment. I'd love a vignette of Dean's thoughts in the five minutes between driving away and kicking in Sam's door._

The door slams, and like that, Sam is gone. Dean winces as the car rocks, as he watches Sam jog up to the front door and let himself in without looking back. 

"Well, Baby, it's just you and me," he says. He flicks the tape deck and the gears, touches the pedal, and they slide out into the street. Dean fancies that the black paint means he blends into the shadows, and if Sam did turn around now, he would see nothing, not even the faint glow of fading taillights. 

 

It's very obvious, even after just a few days, that there's a Sam-shaped space in the passenger seat. Dean doesn't mind the peace, though; he doesn't have to justify his music choices, again, and if he wants to circle the block, he can do it without being questioned. He can spread out on the seat, too, not that it's not wide enough for the both of them, but he can be comfortable without being pushed back onto his side. The little things that he hadn't noticed he'd given up to not be alone are the things that make him not turn back and try to wrangle a free meal from Sam's hot girlfriend and stay the night so he can poke fun at Sam wearing a suit while actually being himself. 

 

By chance, he glances in the rear vision mirror as he indicates right for 'get the hell out of Dodge'. It's hard to make out against the night sky and the haze of streetlights trying their best to hide it, and someone actually behind him at this time of night beeps as he coasts, squinting as if that ever helped get a better view. Right becomes right again, as he tells Baby under his breath that if she gets him there in time he'll give her a wax and polish and whatever, as long as the empty space doesn't stay that way.

He doesn't want a chance to regret being relieved, just for those few moments, that Sam was gone.

 

He doesn't know the roads well, but it's a modern city, with developments built on a square, so he can follow the smoke and not get twisted around on winding side lanes. He parks as if they'd never left, and drags his hand across the bonnet as he runs around the car. There's a heavy, sick feeling in his chest, like he only ever felt twice before - he remembers it from when he was little, and Sam had made it go away when he agreed to come look for Dad. He's not sure how he breathes with it pressing down on his lungs and his heart and he doesn't know how he knows his way around the house when he'd only made it to the lounge on his first run; he stops thinking until he has his arms around Sam and there's something solid to pull away from the fire, again. Sam's bag is still packed, sitting right where he must have dropped it on his way in, and Dean snatches a strap with three fingers.

Sam doesn't come back to himself until he hears the sirens; by then, they're already away, safe, where nobody can blame Sam for what happened.

 

The car smells of smoke for a few days, even with the windows wound down, but Dean wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
